The Attorney General Office is asking the Supreme Court of Justice (SCJ) for an extension period in order to deliver the evidence that they plan to use in support of the processing and seizure of Senator Felix Bautista’s assets. This came about because the secretary general of the Court is refusing to accept the 12,000-page case file setting out the Justice Department’s case against the senator.
According to El Nuevo Diario, when the deadline for delivering the evidence was about to expire late yesterday afternoon, Wednesday 12 November 2014, the director of the Specialized Prosecutor for the Persecution of Administrative Corruption (PEPCA), Laura Guerrero Pelletier, appeared at the SCJ secretary’s office and tried to deliver the rather large document, but it was refused on the grounds that it should be submitted in digital format and with nine copies, leading to a stalemate that has still not been resolved.
Faced with this situation, Guerrero said that formatting the document would be very expensive and tedious for the office, and this has forced her to request an extension of the deadline in order to make the photocopies at the Attorney General’s office. Guerrero said, “the refusal to receive the case file on paper is just one example, it is no more than an irrefutable demonstration of the weaknesses of our judicial system because this is a way of wasting time and complicating things even further.”